Chasing
by phases.equal.fanfics
Summary: The next time trouble comes looking for the trio, Fuu will be involved in the fighting as well... Canon with Mugen/Fuu pairing, rated T for language
1. Chapter 1

Chasing

_This is my first Samurai Champloo fanfic but I have not finished the series yet! :0 Please comment and tell me how I'm doing! (town names are made up)_

-Flashback-

_He watched the sun set into a crimson sky while drinking a lukewarm cup of tea. A retired guard of the city's lord and already bored with his life, the 52 year old man was waiting for something to come along so he could reunite with his beloved sword. But nothing exciting happened around him anymore. He decided to walk into town for a little bit to see the execution or pick a fight, if he felt like it. As he got closer to the crowd near the bridge, he saw a blinding array of fireworks from where the execution was supposedly taking place._

"_What the hell is going on over there?" He wondered aloud, running towards the bridge. As he did, he saw two beaten up men run past him with blood stained swords. With all the brains that he had he guessed that they were the convicted and had found a way to escape from their execution. Before he had any second doubt, he found himself running after them._

-End Flashback-

"Just shut up will ya?" Mugen groaned, absolutely sick of Fuu complaining about her stomach again.

"But it huurrrts! Jin why can't we just use the money to buy some food and forget about renting a room for a night? It wouldn't hurt to spend just one night camping out, would it?"

Jin, who dealt with this as much as Mugen did, said in his usual calm voice, "We can still do both if we ration down our food." Both Fuu and Mugen groaned. The sun was still beating down on them in the late afternoon, clouds scattering the hazy blue sky. So far there hadn't been any arguments, at least up until now.

"Why do you hafta carry all the money, huh? I could handle it so much better than both of you!" Fuu complained. The small stash of money had been disappearing at a depressing rate, and Jin knew they needed to get jobs again.

Fuu, also thinking about having to take up another job, whimpered "I hate cleaning jobs…"

"Then how bout for a change you work at a brothel?"Mugen said with a sneer on his face, expecting an insult to be thrown at him, but she didn't respond.

…._What? She's actually considering it?_

"Well… I guess that would be my last resort…" she said, sighing shamefully.

Mugen abruptly turned around with a taunting grin on his face, swooping at the chance of harassment.

"Woa girly, we both know shit like that can get you a load of money, so you're doing it. Oh wait I forgot, no bastard in their right mind would wanna have sex with you, never mind," he mocked, loving the feel of hatred towards him.

"Why you little-! I'll kill you! She yelled, punching his shoulder as hard as she could.

He suddenly grabbed her wrist and moved his face in so it was merely a few inches away from hers.

"Listen bitch, I could torture you in more ways than you can imagine. You honestly think you could kill me?" He hissed.

Fuu glared/pouted at him for a few seconds. "Fine, then show me."

_Dammit! She's smirking at me because she thinks I couldn't hurt her…_

Mugen glared at her as menacingly as he could, but he wasn't moving to prove what he said. He felt angry that he couldn't bring himself to do anything to her, even though he had relentlessly killed so many beforehand without a second thought.

"..stupid bitch," he growled as he pushed her aside, and continued to walk.

"Hmm, that's what I thought," she said to herself, smiling. It made her just a little proud to think that because they've all been together long enough that all killing intent had been put aside.

The sun had already set by the time they shuffled into Igata, stomachs rumbling and eyes drooped, as usual it seemed every time they entered another town.

_Haha yea I had to come up with a random name so I chose Igata :P Tell me what u think, and next chapter will be longer, I promise!_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_I do not own Samurai Champloo or any of its awesome characters. Here's the second chapter!_

Fuu's eyes quickly shut again, reacting to the bright sunlight infiltrating the worn down shack. She slowly sat up and raised her hands to fix her messy hair, annoyed at having woken so early. _Ugh, I gotta pee._ Standing up, she would have all but tripped on the body on the floor. _Ow….huh?_

Even though her eyes were still blurry, she could tell it was Mugen who she nearly fell over. "Stupid dimwit…" she said aloud, and was about to kick him, but stopped. _Why is he so close to where I slept? He always tries to make sure he stays as far away from me as possible….. did he roll over here or something? But that's a long way to roll unconsciously…_

_Ahh snap out of it! _She thought, realizing she had been staring at him. She looked at his face for a moment, and almost smiled. For once there was no sign of anger or lewdness. _He looks…..peaceful, almost._

Once again realizing what she was doing, she quickly turned and walked outside, preparing for yet another day travelling with those two.

-Flashback-

_He knew there were others chasing after them, but he had the better lead. He saw them round a corner into an alleyway and disappear. But instead of running, he crept up to the corner and peered in. Up ahead he saw them fighting each other, of all things. These two criminals, they looked the complete opposite of each other. One had wild hair and a scruffy face, while the other wore glasses and was very pale. And their fighting techniques were different…_

_Suddenly a girl interrupted the fight, yelling something he couldn't hear. This girl, he thought, she had the nerve to approach them? Did she know what they had done?_

_Only then did he notice his heart was racing. This was exactly the kind of excitement he needed._

"_Where did they go!" someone shouted behind him. He turned and saw several guards from the prison about a block away, looking around angrily. Now was his chance to be conceded._

"_They're over here!" he yelled, pointing towards the alleyway._

-End Flashback-

"C'mon you guys, wake up! We gotta eat breakfast!"

This time Fuu did not hesitate to kick Mugen, who groaned and murmured under his breath words she did not care to hear, while Jin stood up and walked outside.

"Why do you guys wake up so late? It's already past noon and all you've done is lie around on your lazy asses!

Mugen rubbed his eyes. "At least we're up, so stop whining."

Almost every morning was like this, making Fuu wonder if next time she should just let them wake up on their own.

The trio walked into Igata, which fortunately looked like a civilized town. Nobody really felt like stirring anything up at the moment, anyway. As usual, Jin walked with his eyes closed, Mugen with his hands behind his head, and Fuu with- well nothing distinct, really. Fuu peered into a nearly empty restaurant, satisfied with the menu they had. "Alright, let's eat here! The food looks pretty good," she said, mouth already watering at the smell of dumplings.

Food was the one thing Mugen and Fuu agreed upon, because Mugen was also falling weak to the smell.

"I'll have some grilled eel and 20 dumplings ple-" Fuu was interrupted by Jin putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Remember Fuu, we hardly have any money."

And just like that, her happiness turned into spiraling depression.

"Aww…. ok, I'll just have the grilled eel then, please."

"Get me 12 dumplings."

"I'll have the nerima daikon, please."

It was a lot less than usual, and it made Fuu upset. "Jeez, I didn't have anything last night and now there's hardly enough to keep me full…" she said miserably.

Both men chose to ignore her, figuring it could shut her up.

"Hey! Are you even listening to me?" No response.

"….Fine. Don't answer." She grumbled as she bit into her eel.

The rest was silence, with Fuu occasionally glancing at them over her food. But it looked like they weren't in any sort of mood today, not even Mugen. _Hmm,_ she thought, _they must be bored or something..._

She was still thinking about this while they walked back to their shack. "Hey, I know why you guys are like this!" She said aloud.

Mugen glanced at her, hands clasped behind his head. "Huh? What are you talking about."

Fuu grinned as if she solved a huge mystery. "It's because you two haven't fought anyone in a while, and you're getting bored!"

Jin closed his eyes. "Hmm."

"Huhh, I guess…"

"Ha! I got it right," she beamed. Mugen had actually answered positively!

Mugen turned back to the road. _Weird girl…_

A breeze seeped through the cracks in the walls as the trio packed what little possessions they had and turned to leave. Fuu heard the shack creaking as she picked up momo and let her crawl onto her shoulder. "Let's get out of here before this old thing falls on us."

As they left their temporary home, Fuu felt like she couldn't be in a better mood. _It's probably because they're not fighting anyone or getting me in trouble,_ she thought happily. She giggled, thinking of an idea.

"Hey Momo," she whispered to the flying squirrel on her shoulder. She held out her hand in front of her, motioning that she wanted Momo to get onto it. When she did, Fuu held her hand close to her face and whispered to her friend "Now go and jump into Mugen's hair."

The animal squeaked, then did a flying jump into Mugen's hair. Nothing happened for a moment, but then he started to spazz uncontrollably.

"Aah! There's something in my hair! Get it out!" He yelled, trying to claw at his head. Fuu could hardly contain her laughter, having to clamp her mouth shut as she watched a grown man freak out over such a small thing.

He finally grabbed hold of the flying squirrel and held it out in front of him, his faced mixed with anger and embarrassment.

"fffHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Fuu couldn't hold it in anymore, clutching her sides as her laughter echoed through the forest.

"WHY YOU LITTLE-! I'LL KILL YOU!" He yelled, as he threw Momo straight towards her face. But Fuu had no trouble catching it, and looked back at him with a smug grin on her face. Mugen glared as evilly as he could at her, but it had no effect.

"GrrrRR- I'll get you later bitch!" he yelled, and quickly turned around with a defeated but still pissed off look on his face.

Jin, who had been watching the whole thing, couldn't help but smile at Mugen's overdramatic outburst.

"Hmm."

Suddenly, Jin heard a twig snap a few hundred yards away and ever so slightly turned his head in that direction, his right eye scanning the trees, but he didn't see anything. _Oh well, it's probably just a mouse, _he thought, and turned back to the argument between Fuu and Mugen.

The pair of eyes watched him closely, making sure to be careful next time.

_Suspense! Wow that was a very long chapter(to me it was) and now I need to go to bed! Please review, I think this one was a lot better than the first chapter _


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Fuu scratched at the sweat that trickled down her neck. The afternoon heat was near unbearable, and they had only been treading on for an hour. The air was thick-breath too deeply and you could suffocate on it. Rolled up sleeves and tightly knotted hair did nothing to compensate for the heat, and it was only worse for the two men that walked in front of her.

Fields of tall yellow grass sprawled out before them, the sky a muggy blue. Mugen coughed- probably the most exciting thing to happen for the past several minutes.

"Can we please stop soon? I'm gonna die…" moaned Fuu.

"That wouldn't be the worst thing."

"Shut up, Mugen…" she droned. Blinding heat made for lazy retorts.

"As soon as we reach the forest we'll rest," Jin said quietly. She squinted into the distance, and to her dismay, the slim line of green seemed miles away. So they trudged on, the shimmer of the sun mirroring off the path in front of them. Another day of travels.

There wasn't much to be said, but no one felt like talking anyway.

A weak breeze touched the side of Fuu's neck, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Making an effort to squint again, she saw the lines of treetops. Encouraging, in the least. Jin wrung his hands on the tsuka of his katana. Mugen rolled up the sleeve that had just fallen down. Everything seemed slow and timeless, as if they didn't have a real motive for anything.

Fuu wanted to take action against it. "Ugh, walk faster! It looks like you want to be out in this weather."

As if on cue, both men sprang forward and started running. Fuu looked on, shocked.

"Hey! Wait up you idiots, that isn't what I meant!"

But yelling was useless. She ran after them.

She was almost wheezing by the time she stepped into the cool shade. She doubled over, waiting for her pulse to slow. She stared up at their nonchalant and quite unamused faces.

"Man, what is…wrong…with you? How…can you even…run in this heat?!"

"It's because we're fitter, obviously. You just sit on your fat ass and eat all day," Mugen smirked. Now, Fuu did have enough energy to fight back.

"You WISH I could eat all day, jerk! It's because of you that we can't even get normal jobs! And I'm not fat!"

"No, it's because of YOU we can't stay anywhere for long!"

She snorted. "Oh, and with your 'peaceful' behavior you would even be able to last? As if."

Mugen tightened his fists. "Don't even worry about me, girlie. I soon as you find your stupid flower guy I'm clearin' out of here before you can say thank you."

"As if I would even want you to stay…" she scowled. Mugen rolled his eyes and turned to Jin.

"Man, do you know where this trail leads to? I'm getting' tired and I sure as hell don't wanna camp out again."

"…the nearest village ahead is Okurano. I'd say it's a couple of hours."

Fuu let out another groan. "Great, so we're gonna stop and rest now, like you said. Okay? Okay." She plopped down on a fallen branch and stretched out her legs,sighing.

"Fine," Mugen grumbled. He pushed the scraggled hair away from his eyes and leaned against the nearest tree.

"Do we have any water?"

"You drank the last of it."

"Aw…"

"Cow."

"HEY!"

Suddenly Momo popped out from her chest and stared at him, causing him to jump in the slightest. Fuu couldn't help but giggle.

"Why do you carry that damned rat around with you anyways?" he yelled.

"To cheer me up when you piss me off."

Mugen growled. "Hah, as if you don't piss me off 24/7. But look at me, I don't need no stupid flying rodent!"

"Yea, well you don't need friends! I do!"

"You're damn right I don't!"

Jin pinched the bridge of his nose, agitated at their incessant arguing. If only they could go through one day without bickering. If only.

However something caught his eye for a split second. A shadow. He turned quickly and immediately removed the sword from its sheath. Mugen looked up at him, fully alert.

"What is it?"

Jin scanned the perimeter of the forest of which they entered, waiting. This was the second movement he had picked up on, and he was not letting it slide this time.

"…there's someone following us."

Mugen's gaze immediately hardened, and he too unsheathed his sword. They stood for a minute; listening, watching. However no further sound was made. Jin suspiciously narrowed his eyes.

"We should walk more quickly."

"Shouldn't we just fight them?" Fuu pleaded.

"No. We don't want to be lured into a trap by looking for them. It's best to wait."

"…then let's get out of here!" she whispered loudly. She stood up cautiously and looked at the two man. Jin always had the same expression, but Mugen…he had changed. She was amazed at how quickly his demeanor could change. At first glance, he looked like your run-of-the-mill ragged, lazy idiot. But now…his expression was still, deadly. He looked like a samurai. _Snap out of it, _she thought, and strode ahead.

"Be careful, Fuu," Jin warned.

"Right."

The three went on for few a minutes, walking briskly. Rays of sun filtered through the canopy, printing strange patterns on the backs of the travelers. All silent, staring ahead.

Fuu decided to break the silence. "Wouldn't they attack by now? Usually that's what happens…"

"They must be waiting for something," answered Mugen.

The sound of rushing water grew nearer and nearer, making it hard to hear anything else. The path sloped downhill as they approached a fast-flowing river about 30 feet wide, causing them to stop.

Jin's grip hardened.

Suddenly an arrow flew through the air and struck a tree inches away from Mugen's face. He turned and saw the shooter. All of a sudden two other men came sprinting out of the brush with swords ready, and stopped.

"We are the Yokishima police, and you are under arrest for murder! Now submit peacefully, or we will have to use force!"

Mugen smirked. "Now we all know that we sure as hell won't let you pigs take us anywhere."

One of the men spoke. "Yes, I figured. I was there when you first escaped your execution, and it was that moment then that I swore to bring you in myself. Who knows the countless amount of people you've slaughtered like animals. You deserve to be killed!"

"Don't we all!" Mugen laughed. Jin looked at him.

"So why didn't you attack us in the first place? Was it because you were waiting for us to arrive at the river, blocking our escape?"

The policeman gave her a cold stare.

"Correct, Miss. And now we'll see if these two murderers really live up to word."

As if on cue, both men sprang forward, swords in hand. Jin reached the policeman first, swinging at him only to be blocked by his silver katana. Mugen pounced at the second man, fully aware that the third man with the bow could shoot from range. The two exchanged slashes while Jin fought hard with the first man, who jumped back after a hard blow.

"Mugen, take down the archer first, he's more dangerous," Jin shouted.

"Fine," he replied. He then shoved his foot into the second policeman's shoulder blade and kicked him hard, sending him flying. Mugen used the spring from that to bolt forward towards the man in the brush. Upon seeing the deadly swordsman charge, the man set up another arrow and shot. Mugen moved an inch to the left as the arrow went spiraling past him, cutting his cheek.

"You're gonna regret that," he murmured, and swung his sword at him.

While all the chaos was going on, Fuu just backed herself against the bark of a tree, waiting for her bodyguards to take care of business. She just hoped Mugen would take care of the archer before he shot any more random-"AHHH!"

The arrow that had missed Mugen headed straight for Fuu's head before she ducked down at the last second. _Oh my god that was close…_

She stomped up a few yards before yelling at him. "HEY! Get rid of the damn guy before he kills me!" However, she didn't see the second man get up from where he received the blow to his shoulder.

Mugen ducked another weak punch from the archer before turning to Fuu. Then, without looking, he swiftly drove his blade into the man's stomach, blood spurting onto his tattered shirt.

"There, ya happy?" He yelled back. But he froze.

The man he abandoned stood behind Fuu, sword in hand. But he wasn't looking at Mugen. He was looking at her.

"Look out!" he shouted.

Fuu turned, but it was too late. She only realized what was happening for a second before the man drove his sword into her.

"FUU!"

_It seems it's been a long time since I promised my next chapter. And I'm sorry. As you can see my writing style has changed (thank goodness) but I absolutely promise to have the next and final chapter up very soon. _


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